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This is an op-ed by The Daily News, and, does not reflect the opinions of outside sources and or parties.   

In New York City alone, a city once heralded as the city of dreams and hope,   More youth of all kinds take shape among those in homeless shelters or flat-out on the streets.  As of 2018, there are tens-of-thousands of people currently racked up in New York City’s aging shelter-system, a system, often plagued by scandal;  horrid conditions, and abusive cultures.

The Coalition For Homeless Youth, a non-profit organization that chronicles the chronically homeless and general homeless population in NYC,   Regards the current statistics at more than 22,000 young people and children through the entire system in New York City alone.

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Commonly known as the 30th Street Men’s Shelter, The Daily News,  went undercover in an op-ed investigation for this piece.    Inside that shelter, the conditions alone, are probably some of the most terrifying we’ve ever seen in a shelter system anywhere in the United States.    Urine;  undone paint,  unkept bathrooms — the number of unsanitary issues is indeed abnormally high.

I have no faith left in the Mayor’s office to do anything truly substantial, other, than to continue to tokenize and pretend that adding small numbers of available beds does anything other than cause more problems.   It leads to extraordinary issues due to overcrowding; non-safe spaces for exclusively gay and trans youth, and eventually violence among those  forced to compete for nothing more than a warm-meal and a safe place to lay their head at night. The issue, indeed,  is at the door-step of Mayor De Blasio

During a recent secret stint in the shelter, we, uncovered at least four different cases of where young men had been flat-out raped or sexually assaulted. “That place is terrifying. They don’t care, uh, you are nothing more than a number and a list for them to get additional funding for nothing more than themselves” says one young man, 21, who was sexually assaulted by one of the men  he ended up being around while housed there.

The shelter staff, whom we will identify as only “Bobby” did nothing.  The young man (who for privacy reasons we will not identify)  says that at the time of the assault, he,  not only felt ashamed but felt guilty because the shelter tried to blame him. “They told me that I shouldn’t of worn pajamas that were too compromising, because, I was in a room and an area with men who hadn’t been around other women in so long.. essentially trying to blame me for my own rape”.

When contacted by our reporters  once they  removed themselves from the shelter, the 30th Street Men’s Shelter,  viciously denied the claims of sexual assault and even went as far as to claim that a “sexual assault has never occurred on our premises and any allegation otherwise is a flat-out lie”  said a person not authorized to speak on behalf of the shelter but was aware that we had sought comment for this particular story. While unrelated, we, felt it was relevant  to add in a similar story recounted in the New York Post last year. A story that involved the very same shelter; shelter workers, and numerous allegations of sexual assault.

But, with programs like  the Streetworks Project;  Marsha’s House, and the Ali Forney Center — the 30th  Street men’s shelter is where young men are sent once they’ve aged out (and one of these homeless programs actually requires that you stay the night in the shelter to even be a part of their program . But what they don’t tell people, is, that the 30th street shelter is equally notorious as it is dangerous.  This is why programs like the Ali Forney Center pushed for the legislation that would raise the age of aging out to at least 25 beginning January 2019.   That legislation would go on to be passed as of earlier this year,  following, months of hard work and advocacy on behalf of AFC and other fellow programs like Vocal-NY and Queeroracy.

But our tip-toeing throughout the homeless shelter system doesn’t stop there.    The Coalition for The Homeless estimates that by 2022,  the number of homeless youth, is expected to nearly double.  They helped. Pass a law in 2011 that lawfully required the city of New York to stop tokenizing homeless people and youth in statistics, and, grossly under-reporting just how many people were actually sleeping in shelters.  Of course,  that involved Mayor Bill De’Blasio  — whose administration has been nothing shy of notorious for under-reporting just how many homeless youth and people there really are.

Now,  numbers are not only more accurate thanks to non-profits like the Coalition for the Homeless — but they are more visible and striking than ever before.    But, what has the city done?    At recent budget meetings and such with groups like Vocal-NY,  the Mayor’s office has pledged to add as little as 15 or so more beds and barely enough or  even adequate space to account for the booming number of youth who desperately need a place to sleep at night.

Powerful voices in the fight for ending youth homelessness, like Queerocracy ‘s Janae Sumter,  have assisted in passing legislation and getting new budget-based programs and preemptive steps to force the city and Mayor De Blasio ‘s office to add more funding to get youth off of the streets.

 

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